„In Togetherness and as Apart: Love, Marriage and Family in Contemporary India“
Dr. Parul Bhandari, Visiting Fellow in BUA-funded project „Beyond Social Cohesion – Global Repertoires of Living Together (RePLITO)“ (IAAW/GAMS)
Introduction and Moderation: Prof. Nadja-Christina Schneider, Dr. Fritzi-Marie Titzmann (IAAW)

Registration for the event (3G) at: medialitaet@hu-berlin.de 

This lecture discusses how urban middle class Indians make sense of intimacies and love through the lens of being ‘together’, both as cohabitation and as a concept (of coupledom). In so doing, the focus will be to understand how love, and negotiations around being a couple, provide a sense of identity and enable self- realisation. While there are several iterations and experiences of love, this talk will focus primarily on three themes: firstly, when ‘love’ is seen as a binding force that brings two young people to live together outside the norm of marriage (live-in relationships), secondly, understanding of ‘true love’ as unfulfilled or involving separation, and finally, the everyday negotiations of living together with a family post-marriage. As such, it will explore how love interacts with both pressures and desires of living together, as well as how it is invoked and experienced in situations of being apart. This discussion, in turn, will help recognise the different meanings attached to love, especially beyond the popular western-centric notions of love and intimacy.

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